On the potentialities of intensification of electromagnetic stirring of melts

The effciency of technological processes of producing metals and alloys, continuous ingots and castings of ferrous and non­ferrous metals is mainly determined by the intensity of heat and mass transfer in the liquid phase. To increase the latter, various methods are used, including electromagnetic ones. Most electromagnetic methods are based on the application of electromagnetic fields, harmonically varying in time. In this case, the mean velocity of metal motion is a determining parameter. Since the process of stirring is directly connected with the turbulence level in the flow, the latter is also determined by the mean velocity value. In the present paper, we set forth the results of the studies of liquid metal flows in anharmonic rotating magnetic fields generated by amplitude­modulated alter­ native currents in inductor coils. As demonstrated below, changes in modulation parameters lead to the appearance of additional degrees of freedom in the control of turbulent flows of liquid metals and expand the potentialities for controlling the processes of stirring. With a suitable choice of the modulation parameters, we can considerably increase the intensity of melt stirring at the expense of increased turbulent transfer intensity due to the excitation of the so­called forced turbulence, without increasing the mean velocity of convective flows. Thus, in this case, a more intense mixing can be achieved due to a more intense turbulent transfer at a reduced mean velocity (convective transfer). Figs 4, Refs 4.